Figure 4

Experimental apparatus scheme of a BTBI for transferring cortical tactile information.

A) In the tactile discrimination task, the encoder animal was required to sample a variable width aperture using its facial whiskers. The width could be “Narrow” as shown in the left photograph, or “Wide”. After sampling, the encoder animal had to report whether the aperture was narrow or wide by nose poking on a left or right reward port respectively. If correct, the animal received a small water reward. As the encoder explored the aperture, a sample of its S1 activity was recorded, compared with a template trial and then transferred to the decoders' S1 via ICMS. The pattern of microstimulation constantly varied according to the number of spikes recorded from the encoder rat's S1 in each trial. The decoder rat was required to make a response in the reward port corresponding to the width sampled by the encoder, guided only by the microstimulation pattern. If the decoder rat accurately responded in the correct reward port, both rats received a small water reward. Thus, the encoder rat received an additional reward in case both animals of the dyad performed a trial successfully.